Greetings to you…pursued, apprehended, restored, and watched-over by the Father in the wonderful name of Jesus Christ – THE Risen Savior! What a lovely morning in the Kingdom as the last days of winter loosen their grip. Surely, this is the day that the Lord has made and we must rejoice ad be glad in it. I trust that you had a good weekend and Monday. This morning I will be praying for you, asking Father to smile upon you as He rejoices over you with singing…may God touch your body, mind, and spirit with healing and comfort…and may He guide and direct your steps and use you to encourage someone.
This past Sunday I share with my church family a teaching on the word “peace” as it is presented in Scripture. The previous week we focused on “grace”. The phrase “grace and peace” was the blessing given to the early church seventeen times in the New Testament. “Grace” as we discovered had a rich meaning and so did “peace.” The word “peace” in Scripture most often comes from the word “shalom” which was a Hebrew word with a special connotation. Usually when we talk about peace, we are referring to an absence of conflict. However, ‘shalom’ defined peace as the “presence of blessing”…and it was the presence of bessing that contributed to the absence of conflict.
Peace presented as the presence of blessing had very particular qualities and that was what the Sunday teaching – sermon, focused on. Peace included the blessing of order, the blessing of fulness, the blessing of completeness, the blessing of prosperity ( meaning having everything we need to enjoy life), the blessing of tranquility, and the blessing of health and well-being in spirit-soul-body.
Now when the blessing of “grace and peace” was given by Paul-Peter-John to the early church the implication was that when the grace of God rests on you, then the peace of God rules in you. The challenging thought was that we have control over the extent of His rulership in our heart…Let (permit, allow, invite, welcome) the peace of Christ to rule in our hearts – Colossians 3:15…He has ordered peace for those who worship him – Psalm 85:8…God gives peace when our thoughts are fixed on him – Isaiah 26:3.
Our anchor verse was…Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor (grace) rests. – Luke 2:14.
Something to ponder…grace and peace to you!